Nash helps seal Rangers’ win
Stopped on a similar chance in the first period, Rick Nash changed his approach when he got another opportunity with the score tied late in the game, and it worked.
Nash scored the tiebreaking goal with 3:27 remaining to lead the host New York Rangers to a 4-2 victory over the Pacific Division-leading Los Angeles Kings on Friday night.
Nash stole the puck in the Kings’ zone on the left side near the center line, drove into the left circle and beat goalie Jonathan Quick on the blocker side for his ninth of the season to give the Rangers their third lead of the game.
“I tried to go high glove and he kind of moved his chest right in front of it,” Nash said of his attempt in the first period. “So I thought I had to switch it up and try to go blocker.”
J.T. Miller added an empty-netter with 54 seconds remaining, and New York won for the eighth time in 12 games. Chris Kreider and Kevin Hayes also scored, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 33 shots to help the Rangers improve to 11-1-1 in their past 13 at home.
“It was a real tight checking game, there wasn’t much room out there and it obviously came down to the last few minutes,” Nash said. “They’re one of the best teams in the West and one of the best organizations in the last little bit here so it was a good test for us tonight. I thought we played pretty much as close as a full 60 (minutes) as we have all season.”
Marian Gaborik and Torrey Mitchell scored for Los Angeles, which lost its second straight after an eight-game winning streak. Jonathan Quick finished with 24 saves, and Jussi Jokinen had two assists.
“We made some unforced errors that cost us,” Kings coach John Stevens said. “They are a committed defensive team and it showed . ... Their team game is sound and they prevailed tonight.”
Trailing 2-1, Los Angeles tied it at 7:59 of the third while awaiting a delayed penalty on the Rangers.
Gaborik went backhand-forehand-backhand with the puck as he drove across the front of the net with a defender on him, and his shot was stopped by Lundqvist. However, Mitchell was trailing the play and put the rebound past the goalie. “We could have won this game,” Gaborik said. “We can carry a lot of good things into tomorrow’s game” against